BLO Artistic Advisor and Boston Conservatory faculty member, Vimbayi Kaziboni joins a group of legendary conductors who have received the esteemed honor of the Ditson Conductor’s Award.
Columbia University has announced that Vimbayi Kaziboni has won the 2024 Alice M. Ditson Fund Conductor’s Award, a prestigious honor recognizing conductors who have a distinguished record of performing and championing contemporary American music.
The Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University established the Conductor’s Award in 1945. It is the oldest continuing award honoring conductors for distinguished contributions to American music. The Zimbabwean-born conductor becomes the 79th recipient of what is the oldest continuing award of its kind, joining an impressive list of past winners that includes Leonard Bernstein, Leopold Stokowski, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gunther Schuller, Marin Alsop, Alan Gilbert, and many more. Upon selection, Kaziboni received $5,000 and a citation from Columbia’s president Minouche Shafik.
“This comes as a delightful surprise. I am honored and thankful for this recognition of my work, and above all, ever-grateful to those who have helped get me here,” said Kaziboni. “Indeed, I am truly humbled to be on a list of honorees that includes many of my personal artistic heroes: James de Priest, Leonard Bernstein, Marin Alsop, and Michael Tilson Thomas among others. I am deeply moved with so much gratitude.”
Augusta Read Thomas, Professor of Composition at the University of Chicago and founder of the University’s Center for Contemporary Composition added ““Vimbayi Kaziboni is a luminous, nuanced, expressive conductor. Unique is his embodied and intelligent wisdom related to musical flow, form, tempo, phrasing, pitch, harmony, rhythm, articulation, dynamic-sculpting, timbre, style, and phrasing, all of which are allied to his empathetic, vivid, and inspired ensemble leading, and further allied to his imagination for sonic possibilities. Vimbayi’s world-class skill set renders spectacular, ever-compelling performance experiences for everyone.”
Noted by critics as one of the foremost interpreters of modern classical music, Kaziboni has led performances at some of the most renowned venues in the world such as Carnegie Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Philharmonie de Paris, and Lincoln Center. His résumé includes recent collaborations with many leading orchestras such as Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain and Ensemble Modern, as well as with prominent composers Helmut Lachenmann, Georg Friedrich Haas, Steve Reich, Augusta Read Thomas, Rebecca Saunders, Felipe Lara, Liza Lim, and Jacob TV.